SIC STH 
x ae 


i 
i, 
‘i 
, 
2 
BI 


ar an 


5 ttt Sst. 2 
¥ 


CRE RES FAR ES 


te 


ey 
See 


Eh 


eS 


os 


oc * yeep 





UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


The person charging this material is responsible for its 
renewal or return to the library on or before the due date. 
The minimum fee for a lost item is $125.00, $300.00 for 
bound journals. 


Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons 
for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from 
the University. Please note: self-stick notes may result in 
torn pages and lift some inks. 


Renew via the Telephone Center at 217-333-8400, 
846-262-1510 (toll-free) or circlib @ uiuc.edu. 

Renew online by choosing the My Account option at: 
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/catalog/ 


rY OF 
IBRARY 
HAMPAIGN 
CKS 














Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 


https://archive.org/details/songsofkabirOOkabi_0 



























































THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 


NEW YORK + BOSTON CHICAGO 
ATLANTA ° SAN FRANCISCO 


MACMILLAN & CO., Limirep 


LONDON « BOMBAY ' CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 


THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltp, 
TORONTO 


SONGS OF _ 
KABIR ~ 


TRANSLATED BY . 
RABINDRANATH TAGORE | 


oe 


BY 
RABINDRANATH TAGORE 


y 
NEW YoRK 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY | 


1916 : 
ALJ. RIGHTS RESERVED 











CopyYRIGHT, 1915 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 


Set up and electrotyped. Published, January, 1915. 
Reprinted, June, 1915; July, 1916. 


Bolpur Edition, October, 1916. 


Te 





fata 
eee! b io ™ 





Lee PU Ne LLapore 





INTRODUCTION 


HE poet Kabir, a selection from 
whose songs is here for the first 
. time offered to English readers, is one 
” of the most interesting personalities 
‘in the history of Indian mysticism. 
“ Born in or near Benares, of Mohamme- 
“dan parents, and probably about the 
year 1440, he became in early life a 
_Aisciple of the celebrated Hindu as- 
“etic Ramananda. Ramananda had 
prought to Northern India the reli- 
gious revival which Ramanuja, the 
“great twelfth-century reformer of Brah- 
*manism, had initiated in the South. 
“This revival was in part a reaction 
S against the increasing formalism of the 
~ orthodox cult, in part an assertion of 
eh. demands of the heart as against 
is 5 


6 SONGS OF KABIR 


the intense intellectualism of the Ve- 
danta philosophy, the exaggerated 
monism which that philosophy pro- 
claimed. It took in Ramanuja’s 
preaching the form of an ardent per- 
sonal devotion to the God Vishnu, as 
representing the personal aspect of the 
Divine Nature: that mystical “reli- 
gion of love’ which everywhere makes 
its appearance at a certain level of 
spiritual culture, and which creeds and 
philosophies are powerless to kill. 
Though such a devotion is indige- 
nous in Hinduism, and finds expression 
in many passages of the Bhagavad 
Gita, there was in its medizval re- 
vival a large element of syncretism. 
Ramananda, through whom its spirit is 
said to have reached Kabir, appears to 
have been a man of wide religious cul- 
ture, and full of missionary enthusiasm. 
Living at the moment in which the 
impassioned poetry and deep philoso- 


INTRODUCTION 7 


phy of the great Persian mystics, Attar, 
Sadi, Jalalu’ddin Rimi, and H§fiz, 
were exercising a powerful influence 
on the religious thought of India, he 
dreamed of reconciling this intense 
and personal Mohammedan mysticism 
with the traditional theology of Brah- 
manism. Some have regarded both 
these great religious leaders as influ- 
enced also by Christian thought and 
life: but as this is a point upon which 
competent authorities hold widely di- 
vergent views, its discussion is not at- 
tempted here. We may safely assert, 
however, that in their teachings, two 
—perhaps three — apparently antag- 
onistic streams of intense spiritual 
culture met, as Jewish and Hellenistic 
thought met in the early Christian 
Church: and it is one of the outstand- 
ing characteristics of Kabir’s genius 
that he was able in his poems to fuse 
them into one. 


8 SONGS OF KABIR 


A great religious reformer, the 
founder of a sect to which nearly a 
million northern Hindus still belong, 
it is yet supremely as a mystical poet 
that Kabir lives for us. His fate has 
been that of many revealers of Reality. 
A hater of religious exclusivism, and 
seeking above all things to initiate men 
into the liberty of the children of God, 
his followers have honoured his mem- 
ory by re-erecting in a new place the 
barriers which he laboured to cast 
down. But his wonderful songs sur- 
vive, the spontaneous expressions of 
his vision and his love; and it is by 
these, not by the didactic teachings 
associated with his name, that he makes 
his immortal appeal to the heart. In 
these poems a wide range of mystical 
emotion is brought into play: from the 
loftiest abstractions, the most other- 
worldly passion for the Infinite, to the 
most intimate and _ personal realiza- 


INTRODUCTION _ 9 


tion of God, expressed in homely 
metaphors and_ religious symbols 
drawn indifferently from Hindu and 
Mohammedan belief. It is impossible 
to say of their author that he was 
Brahman or Sifi, Vedantist or Vaish- 
navite. He is, as he says himself, 
“at once the child of Allah and of 
Ram.” That Supreme Spirit) Whom 
he knew and adored, and to Whose joy- 
ous friendship he sought to induct the 
souls of other men, transcended whilst 
He included all metaphysical cate- 
gories, all credal definitions; yet each 
contributed something to the descrip- 
tion of that Infinite and Simple Total- 
ity Who revealed Himself, according 
to their measure, to the faithful lovers 
of all creeds. 

Kabir’s story is surrounded by con- 
tradictory legends, on none of which 
reliance can be placed. Some of these 
emanate from a Hindu, some from a 


10 SONGS OF KABIR 


Mohammedan source, and claim him by 
turns as a Sifi and a Brahman saint. 
His name, however, is practically a 
conclusive proof of Moslem ancestry : 
and the most probable tale is that 
which represents him as the actual 
or adopted child of a Mohammedan 
weaver of Benares, the city in which the 
chief events of his life took place. 

In fifteenth-century Benares the syn- 
cretistic tendencies of Bhakti religion 
had reached full development. Sifis 
and Brahmans appear to have met in 
disputation: the most spiritual mem- 
bers of both creeds frequenting the 
teachings of Ramananda, whose repu- 
tation was then at its height. The 
boy Kabir, in whom the religious pas- 
slon was innate, saw in Ramananda 
his destined teacher; but knew how 
slight were the chances that a Hindu 
guru would accept a Mohammedan as 
disciple. He therefore hid upon the 


INTRODUCTION it 


steps of the river Ganges, where Rama- 
nanda was accustomed to bathe; with 
the result that the master, coming 
down to the water, trod upon his body 
unexpectedly, and exclaimed in his 
astonishment, “‘Ram! Ram!” — the 
name of the incarnation under which he 
worshipped God. Kabir then declared 
that he had received the mantra of 
initiation from Ramananda’s lips, and 
was by it admitted to discipleship. In 
spite of the protests of orthodox Brah- 
mans and Mohammedans, both equally 
annoyed by this contempt of theologi- 
cal landmarks, he persisted in his 
claim; thus exhibiting in action that 
very principle of religious synthesis 
which Ramananda had sought to es- 
tablish in thought. Ramananda ap- 
pears to have accepted him, and 
though Mohammedan legends speak 
of the famous Sifi Pir, Takki of Jhansi, 
as Kabir’s master in later life, the 


12 SONGS OF KABIR 


Hindu saint is the only human teacher 
to whom in his songs he acknowledges 
indebtedness. 

The little that we know of Kabir’s 
life contradicts many current ideas 
concerning: the Oriental mystic. Of 
the stages of discipline through which 
he passed, the manner in which his 
spiritual genius developed, we are com- 
pletely ignorant. He seems to have 
remained for years the disciple of 
Ramiananda, joining in the theological 
and philosophical arguments which his 
master held with all the great Mullahs 
and Brahmans of his day; and to 
this source we may perhaps trace his 
acquaintance with the terms of Hindu 
and Sifi philosophy. He may or may 
not have submitted to the traditional 
education of the Hindu or the Sifi 
contemplative: it 1s clear, at any rate, 
that he never adopted the life of the 
professional ascetic, or retired from the 


- INTRODUCTION 13 


world in order to devote himself to 
bodily mortifications and the exclu- 
sive pursuit of the contemplative life. 
Side by side with his interior life of 
adoration, its artistic expression in 
music and words — for he was a skilled 
musician as well as a poet — he lived 
the sane and diligent life of the Orien- 
tal craftsman. All the legends agree 
on this point: that Kabir was a weaver, 
a simple and unlettered man, who 
earned his living at the loom. Like 
Paul the tentmaker, Boehme the cob- 
bler, Bunyan the tinker, Tersteegen 
the ribbon-maker, he knew how to 
combine vision and industry; the 
work of his hands helped rather than 
hindered the impassioned meditation 
of his heart. Hating mere bodily aus- 
terities, he was no ascetic, but a mar- 
ried man, the father of a family —a 
circumstance which Hindu legends of 
the monastic type vainly attempt to 


14 SONGS OF KABIR 


conceal or explain — and it was from 
out of the heart of the common life 
that he sang his rapturous lyrics of 
divine love. Here his works corrobo- 
rate the traditional story of his life. 
Again and again he extols the life of 
home, the value and reality of diurnal 
existence, with its opportunities for 
love and renunciation; pouring con- 
tempt upon the professional sanctity 
of the Yogi, who “has a great beard 
and matted locks, and looks like a 
goat,’ and on all who think it neces- 
sary to flee a world pervaded by love, 
joy, and beauty — the proper theatre 
of man’s quest — in order to find that 
One Reality Who has “‘spread His form 
of love throughout all the world.” ! 

It does not need much experience of 
ascetic literature to recognize the bold- 
ness and originality of this attitude in 
such a time and place. From the 

1 Cf. Poems Nos. XXI, XL, XLIII, LXVI, LXXVI. 


INTRODUCTION 15 


point of view of orthodox sanctity, 
whether Hindu or Mohammedan, Ka- 
bir was plainly a heretic; and his frank 
dislike of all institutional religion, all 
external observance — which was as 
thorough and as intense as that of the 
Quakers themselves — completed, so 
far as ecclesiastical opinion was con- 
cerned, his reputation as a dangerous 
man. The“‘simple union” with Divine 
Reality which he perpetually extolled, 
as alike the duty and the joy of every 
soul, was independent both of ritual 
and of bodily austerities; the God 
whom he proclaimed was “‘neither in 
Kaaba nor in Kailash.’? Those who 
sought Him needed not to go far; for 
He awaited discovery everywhere, more 
accessible to “the washerwoman and 
the carpenter’’ than to the self-right- 
eous holy man.! Therefore the whole 
apparatus of piety, Hindu and Moslem 
1 Poems I, II, XLI. 


16 SONGS OF KABIR 


alike — the temple and mosque, idol 
and holy water, scriptures and priests 
— were denounced by this inconven- 
iently clear-sighted poet as mere sub- 
stitutes for reality; dead things inter- 
vening between the soul and its love — 
The images are all lifeless, they cannot speak : 

I know, for I have cried aloud to them. 


The Purana and the Koran are mere words: 
lifting up the curtain, I have seen.’ 


This sort of thing cannot be tolerated 
by any organized church; and it is 
not surprising that Kabir, having his 
head-quarters in Benares, the very 
centre of priestly influence, was sub- 
jected to considerable persecution. The 
well-known legend of the beautiful 
courtesan sent by the Brahmans to 
tempt his virtue, and converted, like 
the Magdalen, by her sudden encounter 
with the initiate of a higher love, pre- 
serves the memory of the fear and dis- 

1 Poems XLII, LXV, LXVII. 


INTRODUCTION 17 


like with which he was regarded by the 
ecclesiastical powers. Once at least, 
after the performance of a supposed 
miracle of healing, he was brought 
before the Emperor Sikandar Lodi, 
and charged with claiming the posses- 
sion of divine powers. But Sikandar 
Lodi, a ruler of considerable culture, 
was tolerant of the eccentricities of 
saintly persons belonging to his own 
faith. Kabir, being of Mohammedan 
birth, was outside the authority of the 
Brahmans, and technically classed with 
the Sifis, to whom great theological 
latitude was allowed. Therefore, 
though he was banished in the in- 
terests of peace from Benares, his life 
was spared. This seems to have 
happened in 1495, when he was nearly 
sixty years of age; it is the last event 
in his career of which we have definite 
knowledge. Thenceforth he appears 
to have moved about amongst various 


18 SONGS OF KABIR 


cities of northern India, the centre of 
a group of disciples; continuing in 
exile that life of apostle and poet of 
love to which, as he declares in one of 
his songs, he was destined “‘from the 
beginning of time.” In 1518, an old 
man, broken in health, and with hands 
so feeble that he could no longer make 
the music which he loved, he died at 
Maghar near Gorakhpur. 

A beautiful legend tells us that after 
his death his Mohammedan and Hindu 
disciples disputed the possession of 
his body; which the Mohammedans 
wished to bury, the Hindus to burn. 
As they argued together, Kabir ap- 
peared before them, and told them to 
lift the shroud and look at that which 
lay beneath. They did so, and found 
in the place of the corpse a heap of 
flowers; half of which were buried by 
the Mohammedans at Maghar, and 
half carried by the Hindus to the holy 


INTRODUCTION 19 


city of Benares to be burned — fitting 
conclusion to a life which had made 
fragrant the most beautiful doctrines 
of two great creeds. 


II 


The poetry of mysticism might be 
defined on the one hand as a tempera- 
mental reaction to the vision of Reality : 
on the other, as a form of prophecy. 
As it is the special vocation of the mys- 
tical consciousness to mediate between 
two orders, going out in loving adora- 
tion towards God and coming home to 
tell the secrets of Eternity to other 
men; so the artistic self-expression of 
this consciousness has also a double 
character. It is love-poetry, but love- 
poetry which is often written with a 
missionary intention. 

Kabir’s songs are of this kind: out- 
births at once of rapture and of charity. 
Written in the popular Hindi, not in 


20 SONGS OF KABIR 


the literary tongue, they were deliber- 
ately addressed — like the vernacular 
poetry of Jacopone da Todi and 
Richard Rolle — to the people rather 
than to the professionally religious class ; 
and all must be struck by the constant 
employment in them of imagery drawn 
from the common life, the universal 
experience. It is by the simplest meta- 
phors, by constant appeals to needs, 
passions, relations which all men under- 
stand — the bridegroom and bride, the 
guru and disciple, the ‘pilgrim, the 
farmer, the migrant bird —that he 
drives home his intense conviction of 
the reality sof the soul’s intercourse 
with the Transcendent. There are in 
his universe no fences between the 
“‘natural’’ and “‘supernatural’’ worlds ; 
everything is a part of the creative 
Play of God, and therefore — even in 
its humblest details — capable of re- 
vealing the Player’s mind. 


INTRODUCTION 21 


This willing acceptance of the here- 
and-now as a means of representing 
supernal realities is a trait common to 
the greatest mystics. For them, when 
they have achieved at last the true 
theopathetic state, all aspects of the 
universe possess equal authority as 
sacramental declarations of the 
Presence of God; and their fearless 
employment of homely and physical 
symbols — often startling and even 
revolting to the unaccustomed taste 
— is in direct proportion to the exalta- 
tion of their spiritual life. The works 
of the great Sitfis, and amongst the 
Christians of Jacopone da Todi, Ruys- 
broeck, Boehme, abound in illustra- 
tions of this law. Therefore we must 
not be surprised to find in Kabir’s 
songs — his desperate attempts to com- 
municate his ecstasy and persuade 
other men to share it —a constant 
juxtaposition of concrete and meta- 


22 SONGS OF KABIR 


physical language; swift alternations 
between the most intensely anthropo- 
morphic, the most subtly philosophical, 
ways of apprehending man’s commun- 
ion with the Divine. The need for this 
alternation, and its entire naturalness 
for the mind which employs it, is rooted 
in his concept, or vision, of the Nature 
of God; and unless we make some at- 
tempt to grasp this, we shall not go far 
in our understanding of his poems. 
Kabir belongs to that small group of 
supreme mystics — amongst whom St. 
Augustine, Ruysbroeck, and the Sufi 
poet Jalalu’ddin Rimi are perhaps the 
chief — who have achieved that which 
we might call the synthetic vision of 
God. These have resolved the per- 
petual opposition between the personal 
and impersonal, the transcendent and 
immanent, static and dynamic aspects 
of the Divine Nature; between the 
Absolute of philosophy and the “sure 


INTRODUCTION 23 


true Friend” of devotional religion. 
They have done this, not by taking 
these apparently incompatible concepts 
one after the other; but by ascending 
to a height of spiritual intuition at 
which they are, as Ruysbroeck said, 
‘““melted and merged in the Unity,” 
and perceived as the completing oppo- 
sites of a perfect Whole. This pro- 
ceeding entails for them —and both 
Kabir and Ruysbroeck expressly ac- 
knowledge it—a universe of three 
orders: Becoming, Being, and that 
which is “More than Being,” 2.e., God.! 
God is here felt to be not the final 
abstraction, but the one actuality. 
He inspires, supports, indeed inhabits, 
both the durational, conditioned, finite 
world of Becoming and the uncon- 
ditioned, non-successional, infinite 
world of Being; yet utterly transcends 
them both. He is the omnipresent 
1Nos. VII and XLIX. 


24 SONGS OF KABIR 


Reality, the “All-pervading” within 
Whom “the worlds are being told like 
beads.”? In His personal aspect He 
is the “beloved Fakir,” teaching and 
companioning each soul. Considered 
as Immanent Spirit, He is “the Mind 
within the mind.” But all these are at 
best partial aspects of His nature, 
mutually corrective: as the Persons in 
the Christian doctrine of the Trinity 
—to which this theological diagram 
bears a striking resemblance — repre- 
sent different and compensating experi- 
ences of the Divine Unity within which 
they are resumed. As Ruysbroeck 
discerned a plane of reality upon which 
“we can speak no more of Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit, but only of One Being, 
the very substance of the Divine Per- 
sons’; so Kabir says that “beyond 
both the limited and the limitless is 
He, the Pure Being.”’ ! 
1No. VII. 


INTRODUCTION 25 


Brahma, then, is the Ineffable Fact 
~ compared with which “the distinction 
of the Conditioned from the Uncondi- 
tioned is but a word’’: at once the 
utterly transcendent One of Absolutist 
philosophy, and the personal Lover 
of the individual soul — *‘common to 
all and special to each,”’ as one Chris- 
tian mystic has it. The need felt by 
Kabir for both these ways of describing 
Reality is a proof of the richness and 
balance of his spiritual experience; 
which neither cosmic nor anthropo- 
morphic symbols, taken alone, could 
express. More absolute than the Ab- 
solute, more personal than the human 
mind, Brahma therefore exceeds whilst 
He includes all the concepts of phi- 
losophy, all the passionate intuitions 
of the heart. He is the Great Affirma- 
tion, the font of energy, the source of 
life and love, the unique satisfaction 
of desire. His creative word is the Om 


26 SONGS OF KABIR 


or “Everlasting Yea.” The negative 
philosophy which strips from the Di- 
vine Nature all Its attributes and — 
defining Him only by that which He is 
not — reduces Him to an “Empti- 
ness,” is abhorrent to this most vital 
of poets. Brahma, he says, “may 
never be found in abstractions.” He 
is the One Love who pervades the 
world, discerned in His fullness only 
by the eyes of love; and those who 
know Him thus share, though they 
may never tell, the joyous and _ inef- 
fable secret of the universe.! 

Now Kabir, achieving this synthesis 
between the personal and cosmic as- 
pects of the Divine Nature, eludes the 
three great dangers which threaten 
mystical religion. 

First, he escapes the excessive emo-’ 
tionalism, the tendency to an ex- 
clusively anthropomorphic devotion, 

1Nos. VII, XX VI, LXXVI, XC. 


INTRODUCTION 27 


which results from an unrestricted cult 
of Divine.Personality, especially under 
an incarnational form; seen in India 
in the exaggerations of Krishna wor- 
ship, in Europe in the sentimental 
extravagances of certain Christian 
saints. 

Next, he is protected from the soul- 
destroying conclusions of pure monism, 
inevitable if its logical implications are 
pressed home: that is, the identity 
of substance between God and the soul, 
with its corollary of the total absorp- 
tion of that soul in the Being of God 
as the goal of the spiritual life. For 
the thorough-going monist the soul, 
in so far as it is real, is substantially 
identical with God; and the true 
object of existence is the making patent 
of this latent identity, the realization 
which finds expression in the Vedantist 
formula ‘That art thou.’? But Kabir 
says that Brahma and the creature are 


28 SONGS OF KABIR 


“ever distinct, yet ever united”’; that 
the wise man knows the spiritual as 
well as the material world to “be no 
more than His footstool.” ! The soul’s 
union with Him is a love union, a mut- 
ual inhabitation ; that essentially dual- 
istic relation which all mystical religion 
expresses, not a self-mergence which 
leaves no place for personality. This 
eternal distinction, the mysterious 
union-in-separateness of God and the 
soul, is a necessary doctrine of all 
sane mysticism; for no scheme which 
fails to find a place for it can represent 
more than a fragment of that soul’s 
intercourse with the spiritual world. 
Its affirmation was one of the distin- 
guishing features of the Vaishnavite 
reformation preached by Ramanuja; 
the principle of which had descended 
through Ramananda to Kabir. 
Last, the warmly human and direct 
1 Nos. VII and IX. 


INTRODUCTION 29 


apprehension of God as the supreme 
Object of love, the soul’s comrade, 
teacher, and bridegroom, which is so 
passionately and frequently expressed 
in Kabir’s poems, balances and controls 
those abstract tendencies which are in- 
herent in the metaphysical side of his 
vision of Reality : and prevents it from 
degenerating into that sterile worship 
of intellectual formule which became 
the curse of the Vedantist school. For 
the mere intellectualist, as for the mere 
pietist, he has little approbation.! Love 
is throughout his “‘absolute sole Lord”’ : 
the unique source of the more abundant 
life which he enjoys, and the common 
factor which unites the finite and infi- 
nite worlds. All is soaked in love: 
that love which he described in al- 
most Johannine language as_ the 
“Form of God.’ The whole of crea- 
tion is the Play of the Eternal Lover; 
1 Cf. especially Nos. LIX, LXVII, LXXV, XC, XCI. 


30 SONGS OF KABIR 


the living, changing, growing expres- 
sion of Brahma’s love and joy. As 
these twin passions preside over the 
generation of human life, so “beyond 
the mists of pleasure and pain” Kabir 
finds them governing the creative acts 
of God. His manifestation is love; 
His activity is joy. Creation springs 
from one glad act of affirmation: the 
Everlasting Yea, perpetually uttered 
within the depths of the Divine Na- 
ture.t In accordance with this con- 
cept of the universe as a Love-Game 
which eternally goes forward, a progres- 
sive manifestation of Brahma — one of 
the many notions which he adopted 
from the common stock of Hindu reli- 
gious ideas, and illuminated by his 
poetic genius — movement, rhythm, 
perpetual change, forms an integral 
part of Kabir’s vision of Reality. 
Though the Eternal and Absolute is 
1 Nos. XVII, XXVI, LXXVI, LXXXII. 


INTRODUCTION 31 


ever present to his consciousness, yet 
his concept of the Divine Nature is 
essentially dynamic. It is by the sym- 
bols of motion that he most often tries 
to convey it to us: as in his constant 
reference to dancing, or the strangely 
modern picture of that Eternal Swing 
of the Universe which is “‘held by the 
cords of love.”’ ? 

It is a marked characteristic of mysti- 
cal literature that the great contempla- 
tives, in their effort to convey to us the 
nature of their communion with the 
supersensuous, are Inevitably driven to 
employ some form of sensuous imagery : 
coarse and inaccurate as they know 
such imagery to be, even at the best. 
Our normal human consciousness is so 
completely committed to dependence 
on the senses, that the fruits of intul- 
tion itself are instinctively referred to 
them. In that intuition it seems 


1No. XVI. 


32 SONGS OF KABIR 


to the mystics that all the dim crav- 
ings and partial apprehensions — of 
sense find perfect fulfilment. Hence 
their constant declaration that they see 
the uncreated light, they hear the celes- 
. tial melody, they taste the sweetness 
of the Lord, they know an ineffable 
fragrance, they feel the very contact of 
love. “Him verily seeing and fully 
feeling, Him spiritually hearing and 
Him delectably smelling and sweetly 
swallowing,” as Julian of Norwich has 
it. In those amongst them who de- 
velop psycho-sensorial automatisms, 
these parallels between sense and spirit 
may present themselves to conscious- 
ness in the form of hallucinations: as 
the light seen by Suso, the music heard 
by Rolle, the celestial perfumes which 
filled St. Catherine of Siena’s cell, the 
physical wounds felt by St. Francis 
and St. Teresa. These are excessive 
dramatizations of the symbolism under 


INTRODUCTION 33 


which the mystic tends instinctively 
to represent his spiritual intuition to 
the surface consciousness. Here, in 
the special sense-perception which he 
feels to be most expressive of Reality, 
his peculiar idiosyncrasies come out. 
Now Kabir, as we might expect in 
one whose reactions to the spiritual 
order were so wide and various, uses 
by turn all the symbols of sense. He 
tells us that he has “seen without 
sight”’ the effulgence of Brahma, tasted 
the divine nectar, felt the ecstatic con- 
tact of Reality, smelt the fragrance of 
the heavenly flowers. But he was 
essentially a poet and musician: 
rhythm and harmony were to him the 
garments of beauty and truth. Hence 
in his lyrics he shows himself to be, 
like Richard Rolle, above all things a 
musical mystic. Creation, he says 
again and again, is full of music: it 2s 
music. At the heart of the Universe 


34 SONGS OF KABIR 


“white music is blossoming”: love 
weaves the melody, whilst renunciation 
beats the time. It can be heard in the 
home as well as in the heavens; dis- 
cerned by the ears of common men as 
well as by the trained senses of the 
ascetic. Moreover, the body of every 
man is a lyre on which Brahma, “the 
source of all music,” plays. Every- 
where Kabir discerns the ‘“ Unstruck 
Music of the Infinite’? — that celestial 
melody which the angel played to St. 
Francis, that ghostly symphony which 
filled the soul of Rolle with ecstatic joy.? 
The one figure which he adopts from 
the Hindu Pantheon and constantly 
uses, is that of Krishna the Divine 
Flute Player. He sees the supernal 
music, too, in its visual embodiment, as 
rhythmical movement: that mysteti- 
ous dance of the universe before the 


1Nos. XVII, XVIII, XXXIX, XLI, LIV, LXXVI, 
LXXXIII, LXXXIX, XCVII. ?Nos. L, LIT, LXVIII. 


INTRODUCTION 35 


face of Brahma, which is at once an 
act of worship and an expression of the 
infinite rapture of the Immanent God.! 

Yet in this wide and rapturous vision 
of the universe Kabir never loses touch 
with diurnal existence, never forgets 
the common life. His feet are firmly 
planted upon earth; his lofty and pas- 
sionate apprehensions are perpetually 
controlled by the activity of a sane and 
vigorous intellect, by the alert common- 
sense so often found in persons of real 
mystical genius. The constant insist- 
ence on simplicity and directness, the 
hatred of all abstractions and philoso- 
phizings,” the ruthless criticism of ex- 
ternal religion: these are amongst his 
most marked characteristics. God is 
the Root whence all manifestations, 
“material”? and “spiritual,” alike pro- 
ceed; and God is the only need of 


1Nos. XXVI, XXXII, LXXVI. 
2Nos. LXXV, LXXVIII, LXXX, XC, 


36 SONGS OF KABIR 


man — “‘happiness shall be yours when 
you come to the Root.’?! Hence to 
those who keep their eye on the “‘one 
thing needful,’’ denominations, creeds, 
ceremonies, the conclusions of philos- 
ophy, the disciplines of asceticism, are 
matters of comparative indifference. 
They represent merely the different 
angles from which the soul may ap- 

proach that simple union with Brahma — 
which is its goal; and are useful only 
in so far as they contribute to this 
consummation. So thorough-going is 
Kabir’s eclecticism, that he seems by 
turns Vedantist and Vaishnavite, Pan- 
theist and Transcendentalist, Brahman 
and Safi. In the effort to tell the 
truth about that ineffable apprehension, 
so vast and yet so near, which controls 
his life, he seizes and twines together 
—as he might have woven together 
contrasting threads upon his loom — 

1 No. LXXX. 


INTRODUCTION 37 


symbols and ideas drawn from the most 
violent and conflicting philosophies and 
faiths. All are needed, if he is ever to 
suggest the character of that One 
whom the Upanishad called “‘the Sun- 
coloured Being who is beyond this 
Darkness”’: as all the colours of the 
spectrum are needed if we would dem- 
onstrate the simple richness of white 
light. In thus adapting traditional 
materials to his own use he follows a 
method common amongst the mystics; 
who seldom exhibit any special love 
for originality of form. They will pour 
their wine into almost any vessel that 
comes to hand: generally using by 
preference — and lifting to new levels 
of beauty and significance — the re- 
ligious or philosophic formule current 
in their own day. Thus we find that 
some of Kabir’s finest poems have as 
their subjects the commonplaces of 
Hindu philosophy and religion: the 


38 SONGS OF KABIR 


Lila or Sport of God, the Ocean of 
Bliss, the Bird of the Soul, Maya, the 
Hundred-petalled Lotus, and_ the 
*“Formless Form.’ Many, again, are 
soaked in Safi imagery and feeling. 
Others use as their material the ordi- 
nary surroundings and incidents of 
Indian life: the temple bells, the cere- 
mony of the lamps, marriage, suttee, 
pilgrimage, the characters of the 
seasons; all felt by him in their 
mystical aspect, as sacraments of the 
soul’s relation with Brahma. In many 
of these a particularly beautiful and 
intimate feeling for Nature is shown. 

In the collection of songs here trans- 
lated there will be found examples which 
illustrate nearly every aspect of Kabir’s 
thought, and all the fluctuations of 
the mystic’s emotion: the ecstasy, the 
despair, the still beatitude, the eager 
self-devotion, the flashes of wide illumi- 

1 Nos, XV, XXIII, LXVI, LXXXVII, XCVIII. 


INTRODUCTION 39 


nation, the moments of intimate love. 
His wide and deep vision of the uni- 
verse, the ““Eternal Sport”’ of creation 
(LXXXIT), the worlds being “told like 
beads”? within the Being of God (XIV, 
XVI, XVII, LX XVI), is here seen bal- 
anced by his lovely and delicate sense of 
intimate communion with the Divine 
Friend, Lover, Teacher of the soul 
(X, XI, XXIII, XXXV, LI, LXXXV, 
LXXXVI, LXXXVIII, XCII, XCIII; 
above all, the beautiful poem XXXIV). 
As these apparently paradoxical views 
of Reality are resolved in Brahma, 
so all other opposites are reconciled 
in Him: bondage and liberty, love and 
renunciation, pleasure and pain (XVII, 
XXV, XL, LXXXIX). Union with 
Him is the one thing that matters to 
the soul, its destiny and its need (LI, 
LIT, LIV, LXX, LXXIV, XCIII, 
XCVI); and this union, this discovery 
of God, is the simplest and most natural 


40 SONGS OF KABIR 


of all things, if we would but grasp it 
(XLI, XLVI, LVI, LXXII, LXXVI, 
LXXVIII, XCVIT). The union, how- 
ever, is brought about by love, not by 
knowledge or ceremonial observances 
(XXXVITI, LIV, LV, LIX, XCI); 
and the apprehension which that union 
confers is ineffable — “neither This 
nor That,’ as Ruysbroeck has it (IX, 
XLVI, LXXVI). Real worship and 
communion is in Spirit and in Truth 
(XL, XLI, LVI, LXITI, LXV, LXX), 
therefore idolatry is an insult to the 
Divine Lover (XLII, LXIX) and the 
devices of professional sanctity are 
useless apart from charity and purity 
of soul (LIV, LXV, LXVI). Since all 
things, and especially the heart of 
man, are God-inhabited, God-possessed 
(XXVI, LVI, LXXVI, LXXXIX, 
XCVII), He may best be found in the 
here-and-now: in the normal, human, 
bodily existence, the “‘mud” of material 


INTRODUCTION 41 


life (III, IV, VI, XXI, XXXIX, XL, 
XLITI, XLVITI, LXXII). “We can 
reach the goal without crossing the 
road”? (LX XVI) — not the cloister but 
the home is the proper theatre of man’s 
efforts: and if he cannot find God 
there, he need not hope for success by 
going farther afield. “In the home is 
reality.” There love and detachment, 
bondage and freedom, joy and pain play 
by turns upon the soul; and it is from 
their conflict that the Unstruck Music 
of the Infinite proceeds. ‘Kabir says: 
None but Brahma can evoke its 
melodies.” 


III 


This version of Kabir’s songs is 
chiefly the work of Mr. Rabindranath 
Tagore, the trend of whose mystical 
genius makes him —as all who read 
these poems will see —a_ peculiarly 
sympathetic interpreter of Kabir’s 


42 SONGS OF KABIR 


vision and thought. It has been based 
upon the printed Hindi text with 
Bengali translation of Mr. Kshiti Mo- 
han Sen; who has gathered from many 
sources — sometimes from books and 
manuscripts, sometimes from the lips 
of wandering ascetics and minstrels — 
a large collection of poems and hymns 
to which Kabir’s name is attached, and 
carefully sifted the authentic songs 
from the many spurious works now 
attributed to him. These painstaking 
labours alone have made the present 
undertaking possible. 

We have also had before us a manu- 
script English translation of 116 songs 
made by Mr. Ajit Kumar Chakravarty 
from Mr. Kshiti Mohan Sen’s text, 
and a prose essay upon Kabir from 
the same hand. From these we have 
derived great assistance. A consider- 
able number of readings from the 
translation have been adopted by us; 


INTRODUCTION 43 


whilst several of the facts mentioned 
in the essay have been incorporated 
into this introduction. Our most grate- 
ful thanks are due to Mr. Ajit Kumar 
Chakravarty for the extremely gener- 
ous and unselfish manner in which he 
has placed his work at our disposal. 


KE. U. 


The reference of the headlines of the 
poems is to: 

Santiniketana; Kabir by Sri Kshiti- 
mohan Sen, 4 parts, Brahmacharya- 
srama, Bolpur, 1910-1911. 

For some assistance in normalizing 
the transliteration we are indebted to 


Professor J. F. Blumhardt. | 


KABIR’S POEMS 


I 
I. 13. mo ko kahdn dhinro bande 


SERVANT, where dost thou 
seek Me? 

Lo! I am beside thee. 

I am neither in temple nor in mosque: 
I am neither in Kaaba nor in 
Kailash: 

Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, 
nor in Yoga and renunciation. 

If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at 
once see Me: thou shalt meet Me 
in a moment of time. 

Kabir says, “O Sadhu! God is the 
breath of all breath.”’ 


II 
I. 16. Santan gat na picho nirguniyan 
T is needless to ask of a saint the 


caste to which he belongs; 
A5 


46 SONGS OF KABIR 


For the priest, the warrior, the trades- 
man, and all the thirty-six castes, 
alike are seeking for God. 

It is but folly to ask what the caste of 
a saint may be; 

The barber has sought God, the washer- 
woman, and the carpenter — 

Even Raidas was a seeker after God. 

The Rishi Swapacha was a tanner by 
caste. 

Hindus and Moslems alike have 
achieved that End, where remains 
no mark of distinction. 


III 
I. 57. sddho bhai, jivat hi karo asa 
FRIEND! hope for Him whilst 
you live, know whilst you live, 
understand whilst you live: for 
in life deliverance abides. 
If your bonds be not broken whilst 
living, what hope of deliverance 
in death? 


SONGS OF KABIR 47 


It is but an empty dream, that the soul 
shall have union with Him because 
it has passed from the body : 

If He is found now, He is found then, 

Tf not, we do but go to dwell in the City 
of Death. 

If you have union now, you shall have 
it hereafter. 

Bathe in the truth, know the true Guru, 
have faith in the true Name! 
Kabir says: “It is the Spirit of the 
| quest which helps; I am the slave 

of this Spirit of the quest.”’ 


IV 
I. 58. bdago nad ja re na ja 
O not go to the garden of flowers! 
O Friend! go not there; 

In your body is the garden of flowers. 

Take your seat on the thousand petals 

of the lotus, and there gaze on the 
Infinite Beauty. 


48 SONGS OF KABIR 


V 
I. 63. avadhii, maya taji na jay 
ELL me, Brother, how can I re- 
nounce Maya? 

When I gave up the tying of ribbons, 
still I tied my garment about me: 

When I gave up tying my garment, 
still I covered my body in its folds. 

So, when I give up passion, I see that 
anger remains ; 

And when I renounce anger, greed is 
with me still; 

And when greed is vanquished, pride 
and vainglory remain ; 

When the mind is detached and casts 
Maya away, still it clings to the 
letter. 

Kabir says, “‘ Listen to me, dear Sadhu! 
the true path is rarely found.” 


SONGS OF KABIR 49 


VI 
I. 83. candd jhalkar yahr ghat mahin 


HE moon shines in my body, but 
my blind eyes cannot see it: 
The moon is within me, and so is the 
sun. 
The unstruck drum of Eternity is 
sounded within me; but my deaf 
ears cannot hear it. 


So long as man clamours for the I and 
the Mine, his works are as naught: 

When all love of the I and the Mine is 
dead, then the work of the Lord 
is done. 

For work has no other aim than the 
getting of knowledge: 

When that comes, then work is put 
away. 


The flower blooms for the fruit: when 
the fruit comes, the flower withers. 


50 SONGS OF KABIR 


The musk is in the deer, but it seeks it 
not within itself: it wanders in 
quest of grass. 


VII 
I. 85. Sddho, Brahm alakh lakhaya 
HEN He Himself reveals Him- 


self, Brahma brings into mani- 
festation That which can never be 
seen. 

As the seed is in the plant, as the shade 
is in the tree, as the void is in the 
sky, as infinite forms are in the 
void — 

So from beyond the Infinite, the Infi- 
nite comes; and from the Infinite 
the finite extends. 


The creature is in Brahma, and Brahma 
is in the creature: they are ever 
distinct, yet ever united. 

He Himself is the tree, the seed, and 
the germ. 


SONGS OF KABIR 5) 


He Himself is the flower, the fruit, and 
the shade. 

He Himself is the sun, the light, and 
the lighted. 

He Himself is Brahma, creature, and 
Maya. 

He Himself is the manifold form, the 
infinite space ; 

He is the breath, the word, and the 
meaning. 

He Himself is the limit and the limit- 
less: and beyond both the limited 
and the limitless is He, the Pure 
Being. 

He is the Immanent Mind in Brahma 

and in the creature. 


The Supreme Soul is seen within the 
soul, 

The Point is seen within the Supreme 
Soul, 

And within the Point, the reflection is 
seen again. 


U. OF ILL. LIB. 


52 SONGS OF KABIR © 


Kabir is blest because he has this 
supreme vision! 


Vill 
I. 101. ds ghat antar bag bagice 


\ ' YITHIN this earthen vessel are 
bowers and groves, and within 
it is the Creator: 

Within this vessel are the seven oceans 
and the unnumbered stars. 

The touchstone and the _ jewel-ap- 
praiser are within ; 

And within this vessel the Eternal 
soundeth, and the spring wells up. 

Kabir says: “‘Listen tome, my Friend! 
My beloved Lord is within.” 


IX 
I. 104. arsd lo nahin taisa lo 
HOW may I ever pores that 
secret word ? 


O how can I say He is not like fe and 
He is like that? 


SONGS OF KABIR 53 


If I say that He is within me, the uni- 
verse is ashamed : 

If I say that He is without me, it is 
falsehood. 

He makes the inner and the outer 
worlds to be indivisibly one; 

The conscious and the unconscious, 
both are His footstools. 

He is neither manifest nor hidden, He 
is neither revealed nor unre- 
vealed : 

There are no words to tell that which 
He is. 


X 


I. 121. toht mort lagan lagdye re 
phakir wa 
O Thee Thou hast drawn my love, 
O Fakir! 

I was sleeping in my own chamber, and 
Thou didst awaken me; striking 
me with Thy voice, O Fakir! 

I was drowning in the deeps of the 


54 SONGS OF KABIR 


ocean of this world, and Thou 
didst save me: upholding me 
with Thine arm, O Fakir! 

Only one word and no second — and 
Thou hast made me tear off all 
my bonds, O Fakir! 

Kabir says, “Thou hast united Thy 
heart to my heart, O Fakir !”’ 


XI 


I. 131. mgs din khelat rahi sakhiydn 
sang 

PLAYED day and night with my 
comrades, and now I am greatly 
afraid. 

So high is my Lord’s palace, my heart 
trembles to mount its stairs: yet 
I must not be shy, if I would enjoy 
His love. 

My heart must cleave to my Lover; 
I must withdraw my veil, and 
meet Him with all my body: 


SONGS OF KABIR 55 


Mine eyes must perform the ceremony 
of the lamps of love. 

Kabir says: “Listen to me, friend: he 
understands who loves. If you 
feel not love’s longing for your 
Beloved One, it is vain to adorn 
your body, vain to put unguent - 
on your eyelids.” 


XII 
II. 24. hamsd, kaho puratan vat 


ELL me, O Swan, your ancient 
tale. 
From what land do you come, O Swan? 
to what shore will you fly? 
Where would you take your rest, O 
Swan, and what do you seek? 


Even this morning, O Swan, awake, 
arise, follow me! 

There is a land where no doubt nor 
sorrow have rule: where the terror 
of Death is no more. 


56 SONGS OF KABIR 


There the woods of spring are a-bloom, 
and the fragrant scent “ He is I”’ 
is borne on the wind: 

There the bee of the heart is deeply 
immersed, and desires no other joy. 


XII 
Il. 37. angadhiya deva 
LORD Increate, who will serve 
Thee? 

Every votary offers his worship to the 
God of his own creation: each day 
he receives service — 

None seek Him, the Perfect: Brahma, 
the Indivisible Lord. 

They believe in ten Avatars; but no 
Avatar can be the Infinite Spirit, 
for he suffers the results of his 
deeds : 

The Supreme One must be other than 
this. | 
The Yogi, the Sanyasi, the Ascetics, 

are disputing one with another: 


SONGS OF KABIR 57 


Kabir says, ‘‘O brother! he who has 
seen that radiance of love, he is 
saved.” 


XIV 
II. 56. dariya ki lahar dariydo hat ji 


HE river and its waves are one 
surf: where is the difference 
between the river and its waves ? 
When the wave rises, it is the water; 
and when it falls, it is the same 
water again. Tell me, Sir, where 
is the distinction ? 
Because it has been named as wave, 
shall it no longer be considered as + 
water ? 


Within the Supreme Brahma, © the 
worlds are being told like beads: 

Look upon that rosary with the eyes of 
wisdom, 


58 SONGS OF KABIR 


XV 
II. 57. jdnh khelat vasant riturd) 
HERE Spring, the lord of the 


seasons, reigneth, there the 

Unstruck Music sounds of itself, 

There the streams of light flow in all 
directions ; 

Few are the men who can cross to that 
shore ! 

There, where millions of Krishnas stand 
with hands folded, 

Where millions of Vishnus bow tet 
heads, 

Where millions of Brahmas are reading 
the Vedas, 

Where millions of Shivas are lost in 
contemplation, 

Where millions of Indras dwellin the sky, 

Where the demi-gods and the munis 
are unnumbered, 

Where millions of Saraswatis, Goddess 
of Music, play on the vina — 


SONGS OF KABIR 58 


There is my Lord self-revealed: and 
the scent of sandal and flowers 
dwells in those deeps. 


XVI 
II. 59. ganh cet acet khambh dou 
ETWEEN the poles of the con-— 


scious and the unconscious, there 
has the mind made a swing: 

Thereon hang all beings and all worlds, 
and that swing never ceases its 
sway. 

Millions of beings are there: the sun 
and the moon in their courses are 
there : 

Millions of ages pass, and the swing 
goes on. 

All swing! the sky and the earth and 
the air and the water; and the 
Lord Himself taking form: 

And the sight of this has made Kabir 
a servant. 


60 SONGS OF KABIR 


XVII 
’ II. 61. grah candra tapan jot varat har 


HE light of the sun, the moon, and 
the stars shines bright: 

The melody of love swells forth, and 
the rhythm of love’s detachment 
beats the time. 

Day and night, the chorus of music fills 
the heavens; and Kabir says 
“My Beloved One gleams like the 

lightning flash in the sky.” 


Do you know how the moments per- 
form their adoration ? 

Waving its row of lamps, the universe 
sings in worship day and night, 

There are the hidden banner and the 
secret canopy : 

There the sound of the unseen bells is 
heard. 

Kabir says: “‘There adoration never 
ceases; there the Lord of the Uni- 
verse sitteth on His throne.”’ 


SONGS OF KABIR 61 


The whole world does its works and 
- commits its errors: but few are 
the lovers who know the Beloved. 
The devout seeker is he who mingles 
in his heart the double currents of ° 
love and detachment, like the 
mingling of the streams of Ganges 
and Jumna; 

In his heart the sacred water flows day 
and night; and thus the round of 
births and deaths is brought to an 
end. 


Behold what wonderful rest is in the 
Supreme Spirit! and he enjoys it, 
who makes himself meet for it. 

Held by the cords of love, the swing of 
the Ocean of Joy sways to and fro; 
and a mighty sound ones forth 
in song. 

See what a lotus blooms there atthe 
water! and Kabir says 

“My heart’s bee drinks its nectar.” 


62 SONGS OF KABIR 


What a wonderiul lotus it is, that 
blooms at the heart of the spinning 
wheel of the universe! Only a 
few pure souls know of its true 
delight. 

Music is all around it, and there the 
heart partakes of the joy of the 
Infinite Sea. 

Kabir says: ‘“‘Dive thou into that 
Ocean of sweetness: thus let all 
errors of life and of death flee 
away.” 


Behold how the thirst of the five senses 
is quenched there! and the three 
forms of misery are no more! _ 

Kabir says: “It is the sport of the 
Unattainable One: look within, 
and behold how the moon-beams 
of that Hidden One shine in you.” 


There falls the rhythmic beat of life 
and death: 


SONGS OF KABIR 63 


Rapture wells forth, and all space is 
radiant with light. 

There the Unstruck Music is sounded ; 
it is the music of the love of the 
three worlds. 

There millions of lamps of sun and of 
moon are burning ; 

There the drum beats, and the lover 
swings in play. 

There love-songs resound, and light 
rains in showers; and the wor- 
shipper is entranced in the taste 
of the heavenly nectar. 

Look upon life and death; there is no 
separation between them, 

The right hand and the left hand are 
one and the same. 

Kabir says: “‘There the wise man is 
speechless ; for this truth may never 
be found in Vadas or in books.”’ 


I have had my Seat on the Self-poised 
One, 


64 SONGS OF KABIR 


I have drunk of the Cup of the In- 
effable, 

I have found the Key of the Mystery, 

I have reached the Root of Union. 

Travelling by no track, I have come 
to the Sorrowless Land: very 
easily has the mercy of the great 
Lord come upon me. 

They have sung of Him as infinite and 
unattainable: but I in my medi- 
tations have seen Him without 
sight. 

That is indeed the sorrowless land, and 
none know the path that leads 
there : 

Only he who is on that path has surely 
transcended all sorrow. 

Wonderful is that land of rest, to sist 
no merit can win; 

It is the wise who has seen it, it is the 
wise who has sung of it. 

This is the Ultimate Word: but can 
any express its marvellous savour ? 


SONGS OF KABIR 65 


He who has savoured it once, he 
knows what joy it can give. 
Kabir says: “Knowing it, the ignorant 
man becomes wise, and the wise 
man becomes speechless and silent, 
The worshipper is utterly inebriated, 
His wisdom and his detachment are 
made perfect ; 
He drinks from the cup of the in- 
breathings and the outbreathings 
of love.” 


There the whole sky is filled with 
sound, and there that music is 
made without fingers and without 
strings ; 

There the game of pleasure and Bae | 
does not cease. 

Kabir says: “If you merge your life 
in the Ocean of Life, you will find 
your life in the Supreme Land of 
Bliss.’’. 


What a frenzy of ecstasy there is in 


66 SONGS OF KABIR 


every hour! and the worshipper is 
pressing out and drinking the 
essence of the hours: he lives in 
the life of Brahma. 

I speak truth, for I have accepted truth 
in life; I am now attached to 
truth, I have swept all tinsel away. 

Kabir says: “Thus is the worshipper 
set free from fear; thus have all 
errors of life and of death left 
him.” 


There the sky is filled with music: 

There it rains nectar: 

There the harp-strings jingle, and there 
the drums beat. 

What a secret splendour is there, in 
the mansion of the sky! 

There no mention is made of the rising 
and the setting of the sun; 

In the ocean of manifestation, which is 
the light of love, day and night 
are felt to be one. 


SONGS OF KABIR 67 


Jov for ever, no sorrow, no struggle! 

There have I seen joy filled to the brim, 
perfection of joy; 

No place for error is there. 

Kabir says: “‘There have I witnessed 
the sport of One Bliss !”’ 


I have known in my body the sport of 
the universe: I have escaped from 
the error of this world. 

The inward and the outward are be- 
come as one sky, the Infinite and 
the finite are united: Iam drunken 
with the sight of this All! 

This Light of Thine fulfils the un1- 
verse: the lamp of love that burns 
on the salver of knowledge. 

Kabir says: “There error cannot enter, 
and the conflict of life and death 
is felt no more.” 


68 SONGS OF KABIR 


XVIII 
II. 77. maddh akds ap jahan baithe 
HE middle region of the - sky, 
wherein the spirit dwelleth, is 
radiant with the music of light; 

There, where the pure and white music 
blossoms, my Lord takes His de- 
light. 

In the wondrous effulgence of each hair 
of His body, the brightness of mill- 
ions of suns and of moons is lost. 

On that shore there is a city, where the 
rain of nectar pours and pours, and 
never ceases. 

Kabir says: “Come, O Dharmadas! 
and see my great Lord’s Durbar.” 


XIX 
II. 20. paramadtam guru nikat virdjain 
MY heart! the Supreme Spirit, 
the great Master, is near you: 
wake, oh wake! : 
Run to the feet of your Beloved: for 


SONGS OF KABIR 69 


your Lord stands near to your 

head. | 
You have slept for unnumbered ages; 
— this morning will you not wake? 


XX 
II. 22. man tu par utar kanh jatho 


O what shore would you cross, O 
my heart? there is no traveller 
before you, there is no road: 

Where is the movement, where is the 
rest, on that shore? 

There is no water; no boat, no boat- 
man, is there; 

There is not so much as a rope to tow 
the boat, nor a man to draw it. 

No earth, no sky, no time, no thing, is 
there: no shore, no ford! 

There, there is neither body nor mind : 
and where is the place that shall 
still the thirst of the soul? You 
shall find naught in that emptiness. 

Be strong, and enter into your own 


70 SONGS OF KABIR 


body: for there your foothold is 
firm. Consider it well, O my 
heart! go not elsewhere. 

Kabir says: “Put all imaginations 
away, and stand fast in that which 
you are.” 


XXI | 
II. 33. ghar ghar dipak baraa 


AMPS burn in every house, O 
blind one! and you cannot see 
them. 

One day your eyes shall suddenly be 
opened, and you shall see: and the 
fetters of death will fall from you. 

There is nothing to say or to hear, 
there is nothing to do: it is he 
who is living, yet dead, who shall 
never die again. 


Because he lives in solitude, therefore 
the Yogi says that his home is far 
away. 7 


SONGS OF KABIR 71 


Your Lord is near: yet you are climb- 
ing the palm-tree to seek Him. 
The Brahman priest goes from house 
to house and initiates people into 

faith: 

Alas! the true fountain of life is beside 
you, and you have set up a stone 
to worship. 

Kabir says: “I may never express how 
sweet my Lord is. Yoga and the 
telling of beads, virtue and vice — 
these are naught to Him.” 


XXII 
II. 38. Sddho, so satgur mohi bhawar 


BROTHER, my heart yearns for 
that true Guru, who fills the cup 
of true love, and drinks of it him- 
self, and offers it then to me. 
He removes the veil from the eyes, and 
gives the true Vision of Brahma: 
He reveals the worlds in Him, and 


72 SONGS OF KABIR 


makes me to hear the Unstruck 
Music: 


_” He shows joy and sorrow to be one: 


He fills all utterance with love. 

Kabir says: “Verily he has no fear, 
who has such a Guru to lead him 
to the shelter of safety !” 


XXII 
II. 40. tinwir sadnjh ka gahird dwar 
HE shadows of evening fall thick 
and deep, and the darkness of love 
envelops the body and the mind. 
Open the window to the west, and be 
lost in the sky of love; 
Drink the sweet honey that steeps the 
petals of the lotus of the heart. 
Receive the waves in your body: what 
splendour is in the region of the 
sea ! 
Hark! the sounds of conches and bells 
are rising. | 


SONGS OF KABIR 73 


Kabir says: “‘O brother, behold! the 
Lord is in this vessel of my body.” 


XXIV 
_Ii. 48. gis se rahani apar jagat men 


ORE than all else do I cherish at 

heart that love which makes 
me to live a limitless life in this 
world. 

It is like the lotus, which lives in the 
water and blooms in the water: 
yet the water cannot touch its 
petals, they open beyond its reach. 

It is like a wife, who enters the fire at 
the bidding of love. She burns 
and lets others grieve, yet never 
dishonours love. 

This ocean of the world is hard to cross: 
its waters are very deep. Kabir 
says: “Listen to me, O Sadhu! 
few there are who have reached its 
end.” 


74. SONGS OF KABIR 


XXV 
II. 45. Hari ne apna ap chipaya 
Y Lord hides Himself, and my 
Lord wonderfully reveals Him- 
self : 

My Lord has encompassed me with 
hardness, and my Lord has cast 
down my limitations. 

My Lord brings to me words of sorrow 
and words of joy, and He Himself 
heals their strife. 

I will offer my body and mind to my 
Lord: I will give up my life, but 
never can I forget my Lord! 


XXVI 
II. 75. o6nkdr siwae koi sirjar 
LL things are created by the Om; 
The love-form is His body. 
He is without form, without quality, 
without decay : 
Seek thou union with Him! 


SONGS OF KABIR 75 


But that formless God takes a thousand 
forms in the eyes of His creatures: 

He is pure and indestructible, 

His form is infinite and fathomless, 

He dances in rapture, and waves of 
form arise from His dance. 

The body and the mind cannot contain 
themselves, when they are touched 
by His great joy. 

He is immersed in all consciousness, all 
joys, and all sorrows; 

He has no beginning and no end; 

He holds all within His bliss. 


XXVII 
II. 81. satgur sot dayd kar dinha 


T is the mercy of my true Guru that 
has made me to know the un- 
known; — 

I have learned from Him how to walk 
without feet, to see without eyes, 
to hear without ears, to drink 


76 SONGS OF KABIR 


without mouth, to fly without 
wings ; 

I have brought my love and my medi- 
tation into the land where there 
is no sun and moon, nor day and 
night. 

Without eating, I have Pied of the 
sweetness of nectar; and without 
water, I have quenched my thirst. 

Where there is the response of delight, 
there is the fullness of joy. Be- 
fore whom can that joy be uttered ? 

Kabir says: “‘The Guru is great be- 
yond words, and great is the good 
fortune of the disciple.” 


XXVIII 
II. 85. nirgun dge sargun ndcat 


EFORE the Unconditioned, athe 
Conditioned dances: © 

“Thou and I are one!’ this trumpet 
proclaims. 


SONGS OF KABIR 77 


The Guru comes, and bows down before 
the disciple : 
This is the greatest of wonders. 


XXIX 
II. 87. Kabir kab se bhaye vairdgi 


ORAKHNATH asks Kabir: 

“Tell me, O Kabir, when did 
your vocation begin? Where did 
your love have its rise ?”’ 

Kabir answers: 

‘““When He whose forms are manifold 
had not begun His play: when 
there was no Guru, and no disciple: 
when the world was not spread 
out: when the Supreme One was 
alone — - 

Then I became an ascetic; then, O 
Gorakh, my love was drawn to 
Brahma. © 

Brahma did not hold the crown on his 
head; the god Vishnu was not 


78 SONGS OF KABIR 


anointed as king; the power of 
Shiva was still unborn; when I 
was instructed in Yoga. 


I became suddenly revealed in Benares, 
and Ramananda illumined me; 

I brought with me the thirst for the 
Infinite, and I have come for the 
meeting with Him. 

In simplicity will I unite with the 
Simple One; my love will surge 
up. 

O Gorakh, march thou with His 


music !”’ 


XXX 
II. 95. yd tarvar men ek pakheri 


N this tree is a bird: it dances 
in the joy of life. 

None knows where it is: and who 
knows what the burden of its 
music may be? 

Where the branches throw a deep 


SONGS OF KABIR 79 


shade, there does it have its nest: 
and it comes in the evening and 
flies away in the morning, and says 
not a word of that which it means. 

None tell me of this bird that sings 
within me. 3 

It is neither coloured nor maloieleca: it 
has neither form nor outline: 

It sits in the shadow of love. 

It dwells within the Unattainable, the 
Infinite, and the Eternal; and no 
one marks when it comes and goes. 

Kabir says: “O brother Sadhu! deep 
is the mystery. Let wise men seek 
to know where rests that bird.”’ 


XXXI 
II. 100. nis din sdlar ghaw 
SORE pain troubles me day and 
night, and I cannot sleep ; 
I long for the meeting with my Beloved, 
and my father’s house gives me 
pleasure no more. 


80 SONGS OF KABIR 


The gates of the sky are opened, the 
temple is revealed : 

I meet my husband, and leave at His 
feet the offering of my body and 
my mind. 


XXXIT 
II. 103. ndco re mero man, matta hoy 


ANCE, my heart! dance to-day 
with joy. 

The strains of love fill the days and 
the nights with music, and the 
world is listening to its melodies: 

Mad with joy, life and death dance to 
the rhythm of this music. The 
hills and the sea and the earth 
dance. The world of man dances 
in laughter and tears. 

Why put on the robe of the monk, and 
live aloof from the world in lonely 
pride? : 

Behold! my heart dances in the de- 


SONGS OF KABIR 81 


light of a hundred arts; and the 
Creator is well pleased. 
XXXII 


II. 105. man mast hud tab kyon bole 
HERE is the need of words, 


when love has made drunken \” 


the heart ? 

I have wrapped the diamond in my 
cloak; why open it again and 
again ? 

\ When its load was light, the pan of the. 
balance went up: now it is full, 
where is the need for weighing? 

The swan has taken its flight to the 
lake beyond the mountains; why 
should it search for the Boos and 
ditches any more? 

Your Lord dwells within you: ie 
need your outward eyes be opened ? 

Kabir says: “Listen, my brother! my 
Lord, who ravishes my eyes, has 
united Himself with me.” 


82 SONGS OF KABIR 


XXXIV 
II. 110. moh tohi lagi kaise chute 
OW could the love between Thee 


and me sever? 

As the leaf of the lotus abides on the 
water: so thou art my Lord, and 
I am Thy servant. 

As the night-bird Chakor gazes all 
night at the moon: so Thou art 
my Lord and I am Thy servant. 

From the beginning until the ending 
of time, there is love between 
Thee and me; and how shall such 
love be extinguished ? 

Kabir says: “As the river enters into the 
ocean, so my heart touches Thee.” 


XXXV 
II. 113. vdlam, dwo hamare geh re 


Y body and my mind are grieved 
- for the want of Thee; 
O my Beloved! come to my house. 


SONGS OF KABIR 83 


When people say I am Thy bride, I am 
ashamed; for I have not touched 
Thy heart with my heart. 

Then what is this love of mine? I have 
no taste for food, I have no sleep ; 
my heart is ever restless within 
doors and without. 

As water is to the thirsty, so is the 
lover to the bride. Who is there 
that will carry my news to my 
Beloved ? 7 

Kabir is restless: he is dying for sight 
of Him. 


XXXVI 
II. 126. jag piyari, ab kan sowar 
FRIEND, awake, and sleep no 


more! 


The night is over and gone, would you \/ 


lose your day also? 
Others, who have wakened, have re- 
ceived jewels ; 


84 SONGS OF KABIR 


O foolish woman! you have lost all 
whilst you slept. 

Your lover is wise, and you are foolish, 
O woman! 

You never prepared the bed of your 
husband : 

O mad one! you passed youe time in 

~ silly play. : 

Your youth was passed in vain, for you 
did not know your Lord; 

Wake, wake! See! your bed is empty : 
He left you in the night. 

Kabir says: “‘Only she wakes, whose 
heart is pierced with the arrow 
of His music.”’ 


XXXVII 
I. 36. sir parkas, tanh rain kahan 
parye 
HERE is the night, when the 
sun is shining? If it is night, 
then the sun withdraws its light. | 
Where knowledge is, can ignorance en- 


SONGS OF KABIR 85 


dure? If there be ignorance, then 
knowledge must die. 

If there be lust, how can love be there ? 
Where there is love, there is no lust. 


Lay hold on your sword, and join in 
the fight. Fight, O my brother, 
as long as life lasts. 

Strike off your enemy’s head, and. 
there make an end of him quickly : 
then come, and bow your head at 
your King’s Durbar. 3 

He who is brave, never forsakes the 
battle: he who flies from it is no 
true fighter. 

In the field of this body a great war 
goes forward, against passion, an- 
ger, pride, and greed: 

It is in the kingdom of truth, content- 
‘ment and purity, that this battle 
is raging; and the sword that 
rings forth most loudly is the 
sword of His Name. 


86 SONGS OF KABIR 


Kabir says: “When a brave knight 
takes the field, a host of cowards 
is put to flight. 

It is a hard fight and a weary one, this 
fight of the truth-seeker: for the 
vow of the truth-seeker 1s more 
hard than that of the warrior, 
or of the widowed wife who would 
follow her husband. 

For the warrior fights for a few hours, 
and the widow’s struggle with 
death is soon ended: 

But the truth-seeker’s battle goes on 
day and night, as long as life lasts 
it never ceases.” 


XXXVIII 
I. 50. bhram ké tala laga mahal re 


HE lock of error shuts the gate, 
open it with the key of love: | 
Thus, by opening the door, thou shalt 
wake the Beloved. 


SONGS OF KABIR 87 


Kabir says: “O brother! do not pass 
by such good fortune as this.” 


XXXIX 
I. 59. sddho, yah tan thath tanvure ka 


FRIEND! this body is His lyre; 
He tightens its strings, and draws 
from it the melody of Brahma. 

If the strings snap and the keys 
slacken, then to dust must this in-- 
strument of dust return: 

Kabir says: “None but Brahma can 
evoke its melodies.” 


XL 
I. 65. avadhi bhile ko ghar lawe 


E is dear to me indeed who can 

call back the wanderer to his 
home. In the home is the true 
union, in the home is enjoyment of 
life: why should I forsake my 
home and wander in the forest? 


88 SONGS OF KABIR 


If Brahma helps me to realize 
truth, verily I will find both bond- 
age and deliverance in home. 

He is dear to me indeed who has power 
to dive deep into Brahma; whose 
mind loses itself with ease in His 
contemplation. 

He is dear to me who knows Brahma, 
and can dwell on His supreme 
truth in meditation; and who can 
play the melody of the Infinite by 
uniting loveandrenunciation in life. 

Kabir says: “‘The home is the abiding 
place; in the home is reality ; the 
home helps to attain Him Who is 
real. So stay where you are, and all 
things shall come to you in time.” 


XLI 
I. 76. santo, sahaj samadh bhali 
SADHU ! the simple union is the 
best. 
Since the day when I met with my 


SONGS OF KABIR 89 


Lord, there has been no end to 
the sport of our love. 

I shut not my eyes, I close not my ears, 
I do not mortify my body ; 

I see with eyes open and smile, and 
behold His beauty everywhere : 

I utter His Name, and whatever I see, 
it reminds me of Him; whatever 
I do, it becomes His worship. 

The rising and the setting are one to 
me; all contradictions are solved. 

Wherever I go, I move round Him, 

All I achieve is His service: 

When I lie down, I lie prostrate at His 
feet. 


He is the only adorable one to me: I 
have none other. 

My tongue has left off impure words, 
it sings His glory day and night: 

Whether I rise or sit down, I can never 
forget Him; for the rhythm of 
His music beats in my ears. 


90 SONGS OF KABIR 


Kabir says: ‘“‘My heart is frenzied, 
and I disclose in my soul what is 
hidden. I am immersed in that 
one great bliss which transcends all 
pleasure and pain.” 


XLIT 
I. 79. ttirath men to sab pani har 


HERE is nothing but water at the 
holy bathing places; and I know 
that they are useless, for I have 

~ bathed in them. 

The images are all lifeless, they cannot 
speak; I know, for I have cried 
aloud to them. 

The Purana and the Koran are mere 
words; lifting up the curtain, I 
have seen. 

Kabir gives utterance to the words of 
experience; and he knows very 
well that all other things are un- 
true. 


SONGS OF KABIR 91 


XLII 
I. 82. pdni vic min piyasi 


LAUGH when I hear that the fish 
in the water is thirsty: 

You do not see that the Real is in your 
home, and you wander from forest 
to forest listlessly ! 

Here is the truth! Go where you will, 
to Benares or to Mathura; if you 
do not find your soul, the world is 
unreal to you. 


XLIV 

I. 93. gagan math garb nisdn gade 
HE Hidden Banner is planted in 
the temple of the sky; there the 
blue canopy decked with the moon 
and set with bright jewels is spread. 
There the light of the sun and the 
moon is shining: still your mind 

to silence before that splendour. 


92 SONGS OF KABIR 


Kabir says: “‘He who has drunk of this 
nectar, wanders like one who is 
mad.”’ 


XLV 
I. 97. sddho, ko hai kanh se dyo 


HO are you, and whence do you 
come? 

Where dwells that Supreme Spirit, and 
how does He have His sport _ with 
all created things ? 

The fire is in the wood; but who 
awakens it suddenly? Then it 
turns to ashes, and where goes the 
force of the fire? 

The true guru teaches that He has 

& neither limit nor infinitude. 

Kabir says: “Brahma suits His lan- 
guage to the understanding of His 
hearer.” 


SONGS OF KABIR 93 


XLVI 
I. 98. sddho, sahajat kaya sodho 
SADHU! purify yO body in 


the simple way. 


As the seed is within the pais tree, —_. 


and within the seed are the flowers, 
the fruits, and the shade: 

So the germ is within the body, and 
within that germ is the body again. 

The fire, the air, the water, the earth, 
and the aether; you cannot have 
these outside of Him. 

O Kazi, O Pundit, consider it well: 
what is there that is not in the 
soul ? 

The water-filled pitcher is placed upon 
water, it has water within and 
without. 

It should not be given a name, lest it 
eall forth the error of dualism. 
Kabir says: “‘Listen to the Word, the 

Truth, which is your essence. He 


94 SONGS OF KABIR 


speaks the Word to Himself; and 
He Himself is the Creator.”’ 


XLVII 
I. 102. tarvar ek mil vin thada 


HERE is a strange tree, which 
stands without roots and bears 
fruits without blossoming ; 

It has no branches and no leaves, it is 
lotus all over. 

Two birds sing there; one is the Guru, 
and the other the disciple: 

The disciple chooses the manifold fruits 
of life and tastes them, and the 
Guru beholds him in joy. 

What Kabir says is hard to understand : 
‘* The bird is beyond seeking, yet it 
is most clearly visible. The Form- 
less is in the midst of all forms. I 
sing the glory of forms.” 


SONGS OF KABIR 95 


XLVIII 
I. 107. calat mansa acal kinhi 


HAVE stilled my restless mind, and 
my heart is radiant: for in That- 
ness I have seen beyond That-ness, 
in company I have seen the Com- 
rade Himself. 

Living in bondage, I have set myself 
free: I have broken away from 
the clutch of all narrowness. 

Kabir says: “I have attained the 
unattainable, and my heart is 
coloured with the colour of love.” 


XLIX 
I. 105. jo disar, so to har nahin 


HAT which you see is not: and for - 
that which is, you have no words. 
Unless you see, you believe not: what 
is told you you cannot accept. 
He who is discerning knows by the word ; 
and the ignorant stands gaping. 


96 SONGS OF KABIR 


Some contemplate the Formless, and 
others meditate on form: but the 
wise man knows that Brahma is 
beyond both. 

That beauty of His is not seen of the 
eye: that metre of His is not heard 
of the ear. 

Kabir says: “He who has found both 
love and renunciation never de- 
scends to death.” 


L 
I. 126. murali bajat akhand sadaye 


HE flute of the Infinite is played 
without ceasing, and its sound is 
love: 

When love renounces all limits, it 
reaches truth. 

How widely the fragrance spreads! It 
has no end, nothing stands in its 
way. 

The form of this melody is bright like 


SONGS OF KABIR 97 


a million suns: incomparably - 
sounds the vina, the vina of the 
notes of truth. 


LI 


I. 129. sakhiyo, ham hin bhai vdla- 
Masti 

EAR friend, I am eager to meet 

my Beloved! My youth has 

flowered, and the pain of separa- 

tion from Him troubles my breast. 

I am wandering yet in the alleys of 
knowledge without purpose, but I 
have received His news in these 
alleys of knowledge. 

I have a letter from my Beloved: in 
this letter is an unutterable mes- 
sage, and now my fear of death is 
done away. 

Kabir says: ““O my loving friend! I 
have got for my gift the Deathless 
Ones?) 


98 SONGS OF KABIR 


LIT 
I. 130. sdin vin dard kareje hoy 


HEN I am parted from my 
Beloved, my heart is full of 
misery: I have no comfort in the 
day, I have no sleep in the night. 
To whom shall I tell my sorrow? 
The night is dark; the hours slip by. 
Because my Lord is absent, I start 
up and tremble with fear. | 
Kabir says: “‘Listen, my friend! there 
is no other satisfaction, save in the 
encounter with the Beloved.” 


LII 


I. 122. kaum murali sabd sun dnand 
bhayo 
Jy HAT is that flute whose music 
thrills me with joy ? 
The flame burns without a lamp; 
The lotus blossoms without a root; 


SONGS OF KABIR 99 


Flowers bloom in clusters ; 

The moon-bird is devoted to the moon ; 

With all its heart the rain-bird longs 
for the shower of rain; 

But upon whose love does the Lover 
concentrate His entire life? 


LIV 
I. 112. suntad nahi dhun ki khabar 


AVE you not heard the tune 
which the Unstruck Music is 
playing? In the midst of the 
chamber the harp of joy is gently 
and sweetly played; and where is 
the need of going without to hear 

it? 
If you have not drunk of the nectar of 
that One Love, what boots it 
though you should purge yourself 
of all stains ? | 
The Kazi is searching the words of the 
Koran, and instructing others: 








100 SONGS OF KABIR 


but if his heart be not steeped in 
that love, what does it avail, 
though he be a teacher of men? 

The Yogi dyes his garments with red: 
but if he knows naught of that 
colour of love, what does it avail 
though his garments be tinted ? 

Kabir says: ‘“‘Whether I be in the 
temple or the balcony, in the camp 
or in the flower garden, I tell you 
truly that every moment my Lord 
is taking His delight in me.” 


LV 
I. 73. bhakti ka marag ghinad re 


UBTLE is the path of love! 
Therein there is no asking and 
no not-asking, 
There one loses one’s self at His feet, 
There one is immersed in the joy of 
the seeking: plunged in the deeps 
of love as the fish in the water. 


SONGS OF KABIR 101 


The lover is never slow in offering his 
head for his Lord’s service. 
Kabir declares the secret of this love. 


LVI 
I. 68. bhai kot satguru sant kahdwar 


E is the real Sadhu, who can re- 
_ veal the form of the Formless to 
the vision of these eyes: 

Who teaches the simple way of attain- 
ing Him, that is other than rites 
or ceremonies : 

Who does not make you close the doors, 
and hold the breath, and renounce 
the world: 

Who makes you perceive the Supreme 
Spirit wherever the mind attaches 
itself : 

Who teaches you to be still in the midst 
of all your activities. 

Ever immersed in bliss, having no fear 
in his mind, he keeps the spirit of 


102 SONGS OF KABIR 


union in the midst of all enjoy- 
ments. 


The infinite dwelling of the Infinite 
Being is everywhere: in earth, 
water, sky, and air: 

Firm as the thunderbolt, the seat of 
the seeker is established above the 
void. 

He who is within is without: I see 
Him and none else. 


LVII 
I. 66. sddho, sabd sddhna kijar 
ECEIVE that Word from which 
the Universe springeth! 

That word is the Guru; I have heard 
it, and become the disciple. 

How many are there who know the 
meaning of that word? 


O Sadhu! practise that Word! 
The Vedas and the Puranas proclaim it, 
The world is established in it, 


SONGS OF KABIR 103 


' The Rishis and devotees speak of it: 

But none knows the mystery of the 
Word. 

The householder leaves his house when 
he hears it, 

The ascetic comes back to love when | 
he hears it, 

The Six Philosophies expound it, 

The Spirit of Renunciation points to 
that Word, 

From that Word the world-form has 
sprung, 

That Word reveals all. 

Kabir says: “But who knows whence 
the Word cometh ?”’ 


LVIII 
I. 63. pile pydld, ho matwala 
MPTY the Cup! O be drunken! 
Drink the divine nectar of His 


Name! 
Kabir says : “‘ Listen to me, dear Sadhu ! 


104 SONGS OF KABIR 


From the sole of the foot to the crown 
of the head this mind is filled with 


poison.” 


LIX 


I. 52. khasm na cinhai bawari 


MAN, if thou dost not know thine 
own Lord, whereof art thou so 
proud? 
Put thy cleverness away: mere words 
shall never unite thee to Him. 
Do not deceive thyself with the witness 
of the Scriptures : 
Love is something other than this, and 
he who has sought it truly has 
found it. 


LX 
I. 56. sukh sindh ki sar ka 


HE savour of wandering in the 
ocean of deathless life has rid 
me of all my asking: 


SONGS OF KABIR 105 


As the tree is in the seed, so all diseases 
are in this asking. 


LXI 


I. 48. sukh sagar men dike 


Wee at last you are come to the 

ocean of happiness, do not go 
back thirsty. 

Wake, foolish man! for Death stalks 
you. Here is pure water before 
you; drink it at every breath. 

Do not follow the mirage on foot, but 
thirst for the nectar ; 

Dhruva, Prahlad, and Shukadeva have 
drunk of it, and also Raidas has 
tasted it: 

The saints are drunk with love, their 
thirst is for love. 

Kabir says: “‘Listen to me, brother! 
The nest of fear is broken. 

Not for a moment have you come face 
to face with the world: 


106 SONGS OF KABIR 


You are weaving your bondage of 
falsehood, your words are full of 
deception : 

With the load of desires which you hold 
on your head, how can you be 
light ?”’ 

Kabir says: “Keep within you truth, 
detachment, and love.” 


LXII 
I. 35. satt ko kaun stkhawta hat 


HO has ever taught the widowed 
wife to burn herself on the pyre 
of her dead husband ? 
And who has ever taught love to find 
bliss in renunciation ? 


LXIII 
I. 39. are man, dhiraj kahe na dharar 


HY so impatient, my heart? 
He who watches over birds, 
beasts, and insects, 


SONGS OF KABIR 107 


He who cared for you whilst you were | 
yet in your mother’s womb, 

Shall He not care for you now that you 
are come forth? 

Oh my heart, how could you turn from 
the smile of your Lord and wander 
so far from Him? 

You have left your Beloved and are 
thinking of others: and this is 
why all your work is in vain. 


LXIV 
I. 117. sdin se lagan kathin hat, bhai 


OW hard it is to meet my Lord! 

The rain-bird wails in thirst for 
the rain: almost she dies of her 
longing, yet she would have none 
other water than the rain. 

Drawn by the love of music, the deer 
moves forward: she dies as she 
listens to the music, yet she shrinks 
not in fear. 


108 SONGS OF KABIR 


The widowed wife sits by the body of 
her dead husband: she is not 
afraid of the fire. 

Put away all fear for this poor body. 


LXV 
I. 22. jab main bhild, re bhai 


BROTHER! when I was for- 
getful, my true Guru showed me 
the Way. 

Then I left off all rites and ceremonies, 
I bathed no more in the holy 
water : 

Then I learned that it was I alone who 
was mad, and the whole world 
beside me was sane; and I had 
disturbed these wise people. 

From that time forth I knew no more 
how to roll in the dust in obei- 
sance: 

I do not ring the temple bell: 

I do not set the idol on its throne: 


SONGS OF KABIR 109 


I do not worship the image with flowers. 

It is not the austerities that mortify the 

flesh which are pleasing to the Lord, 

When you leave off your clothes and 

kill your senses, you do not please 
the Lord : 

The man who is kind and who practises 
righteousness, who remains passive 
amidst the affairs of the world, 
who considers all creatures on 
earth as his own self, 

He attains the Immortal Being, the 
true God is ever with him. 

Kabir says: “He attains the true 
Name whose words are pure, and 
who is free from pride and con- 
ceit.”’ 


LXVI 
I. 20. man na rangaye 
HE Yogi dyes his garments, in- 
stead of dyeing his mind in the 
colours of love: 


110 SONGS OF KABIR 


| He sits within the temple of the Lord, 
leaving Brahma to worship a stone. 

He pierces holes in his ears, he has a 
great beard and matted locks, he 
looks like a goat: 

He goes forth into the wilderness, kill- 
ing all his desires, and turns him- 
self into an eunuch: 

He shaves his head and dyes his gar- 
ments; he reads the Gita and be- 
comes a mighty talker. 

Kabir says: “‘You are going to the 
doors of death, bound hand and 


foot !” 


LXVII 
I. 9. nd jane sahab kaisd har 
| DO not know what manner of God 
is mine. 
The Mullah cries aloud to Him: and 
why? Is your Lord deaf? The 
subtle anklets that ring on the 


SONGS OF KABIR 111 


feet of an insect when it moves 
are heard of Him. 

Tell your beads, paint your forehead 
with the mark of your God, and 
wear matted locks long and showy : 
but a deadly weapon is in your 
heart, and how shall you have 


God? 


LXVIII 
III. 102. ham se raha na jay 


HEAR the melody of His flute, and 
I cannot contain myself: - 

The flower blooms, though it is not 
spring; and already the bee has 
received its invitation. 

The sky roars and the lightning flashes, 
the waves arise in my heart, 

The rain falls; and my heart longs for 
my Lord. 

Where the rhythm of the world rises 
and falls, thither my heart has 
reached : 


112 SONGS OF KABIR 


There the hidden banners are fluttering 
in the air. 
‘Kabir says: “My heart is dying, 
though it lives.” 


LXIX 
III. 2. jo khodad masjid vasat hai 


F God be within the mosque, then 
to whom does this world belong? 

If Ram be within the image which you 
find upon your pilgrimage, then 
who is there to know what happens 
without ? 

Hari is in the East: Allah is in the 
West. Look within your heart, 
for there you will find both Karim 
and Ram ; 

All the men and women of the world 
are His living forms. 

Kabir is the child of Allah and of Ram: 
He is my Guru, He is my Pir. 


SONGS OF KABIR 113 


LXX 
III. 9. stl santosh sadé samadrishti 


E who is meek and contented, he 
who has an equal vision, whose 

mind is filled with the fullness of 

acceptance and of rest; 

He who has seen Him and touched 
Him, he is freed from all fear and 
trouble. 

To him the perpetual thought of God 
is like sandal paste smeared on 
the body, to him nothing else is 
delight : 

His work and his rest are filled with 
music: he sheds abroad the radi- 
ance of love. 

Kabir says: “Touch His feet, who is 
one» and indivisible, immutable 
and peaceful; who fills all vessels 
to the brim with joy, and whose 
form is love.” 


114 SONGS OF KABIR 


LXXI 
. III. 13. sddh sangat pitam 


O thou to the company of the 
good, where the Beloved One 
has His dwelling place: 

Take all thy thoughts and love and 
instruction from thence. 

Let that assembly be burnt to ashes 
where His Name is not spoken! 

Tell me, how couldst thou hold a 
wedding-feast, if the bridegroom 
himself were not there? 

Waver no more, think only of the Be- 
loved ; 

Set not thy heart on the worship of 
other gods, there is no worth in 
the worship of other masters. 

Kabir deliberates and says: “Thus 
thou shalt never find the Be- 
loved !”’ 


SONGS OF KABIR 115 


LXXII 
III. 26. tor hird hirdilwa kicad men 


HE jewel is lost in the mud, and 
all are seeking for it; 

Some look for it in the east, and some 
in the west; some in the water 
and some amongst stones. 

But the servant Kabir has appraised it 
at its true value, and has wrapped 
it with care in the end of the 
mantle of his heart. 


LXXIII 
III. 26. dyau din gaune ka ho 


HE palanquin came to take me 
away to my husband’s home, 
and it sent through my heart a 
thrill of joy ; 
But the bearers have brought me into 
the lonely forest, where I have no 
one of my own. 


116 SONGS OF KABIR 


O bearers, I entreat you by your feet, 
wait but a moment longer: let me 
go back to my kinsmen and friends, 
and take my leave of them. 

The servant Kabir sings: “‘O Sadhu! 
finish your buying and selling, 
have done with your good and 
your bad: for there are no mar- 
kets and no shops in the land to 
which you go.” 


LXXIV 


III. 30. « are dil, prem nagar ké ant na 
paya 
MY heart! you have not known 
all the secrets of this city of 
love: In ignorance you came, and 
in ignorance you return. 

O my friend, what have you done with 
this life? You have taken on your 
head the burden heavy with stones, 
and who is to lighten it for you? 


SONGS OF KABIR 117 


Your Friend stands on the other shore, 
but you never think in your mind 
how you may meet with Him: 

The boat is broken, and yet you sit 
ever upon the bank; and thus you 
are beaten to no purpose by the 
waves. 

The servant Kabir asks you to con- 
sider; who is there that shall be- 
friend you at the last? 

You are alone, you have no companion : 
you will suffer the consequences 
of your own deeds. 


LXXV 
III. 55. ved kahe sargun ke dge 


HE Vedas say that the Uncondi- 
tioned stands beyond the world 
of Conditions. 
O woman, what does it avail thee to 
dispute whether He is beyond all 
or in all? 


118 SONGS OF KABIR 


See thou everything as thine own 
dwelling place: the mist of pleas- 
ure and pain can never spread there. 

There Brahma is revealed day and 
night: there light is His garment, 
light is His seat, light rests on thy 
head. 

Kabir says: “‘The Master, who is true, 
He is all light.” 


LXXVI 
Ill. 48. ta surat nain nihar 


PEN your eyes of love, and see 

Him who pervades this world! 
consider it well, and know that 
this is your own country. 

When you meet the true Guru, He will 
awaken your heart; 

He will tell you the secret of love and 
detachment, and then you will 
know indeed that He transcends 
this universe. 


SONGS OF KABIR 119 


This world is the City of Truth, its 

: maze of paths enchants the heart : 

We can reach the goal without crossing 
the road, such is the sport unend- 
ing. 

Where the ring of manifold joys ever 
dances about Him, there is the 
sport of Eternal Bliss. 

When we know this, then all our re- 
celving and renouncing is over; 

Thenceforth the heat of having shall 
never scorch us more. 


He is the Ultimate Rest unbounded : 

He has spread His form of love through- 
out all the world. 

From that Ray which is Truth, streams 
of new formsare perpetually spring- 
ing: and He pervades those forms. 

All the gardens and groves and bowers 
are abounding with blossom; and 
the air breaks forth into ripples 
of joy. 


120 SONGS OF KABIR 


There the swan plays a wonderful game, 

There the Unstruck Music _ eddies 
around the Infinite One; 

There in the midst the Throne of the 
Unheld is shining, whereon the 
great Being sits — 

Millions of suns are shamed by the 
radiance of a single hair of His 
body. 

On the harp of the road what true 
melodies are being sounded! and 
its notes pierce the heart : 

There the Eternal Fountain is playing 
its endless life-streams of birth 
and death. 

They call Him Emptiness who is the 
Truth of truths, in Whom all 
truths are stored ! 


There within Him creation goes for- 
ward, which is beyond all philoso- 
phy; for philosophy cannot attain 
to Him: 


SONGS OF KABIR 121 


There is an endless world, O my 
Brother! and there is the Name- 
less Being, of whom naught can 
be said. 

Only he knows it who has reached that 
region: it is other than all that 
is heard and said. 

No form, no body, no length, no 
breadth is seen there: how can I 
tell you that which it is? 

He comes to the Path of the Infinite 
on whom the grace of the Lord 
descends: he is freed from births 
and deaths who attains to Him. 

Kabir says: “It cannot be told by the 
words of the mouth, it cannot be 
written on paper: 

It is like a dumb person who tastes a 
sweet thing — how shall it be ex- 
plained ?” 


122 SONGS OF KABIR 


LXXVII 
III. 60. cal hamsda wa des jahan ° 


MY heart! let us go to that 
country where dwells the Be- 
loved, the ravisher of my heart! 

There Love is filling her pitcher from 
the well, yet she has no rope where- 
with to draw water; 

There the clouds do not cover the sky, 
yet the rain falls down in gentle- 
showers: 

O bodiless one! do not sit on your 
doorstep; go forth and bathe 
yourself in that rain! 

There it is ever moonlight and never 
dark; and who speaks of one sun 
only? that land is illuminate with 
the rays of a million suns. 


SONGS OF KABIR 123 


LXXVIII 
III. 63. kahain Kabir, suno ho sddho 


ABIR says: “O Sadhu! hear 

my deathless words. If you 
want your own good, examine and 
consider them well. 

You have estranged yourself from the 
Creator, of whom you have sprung: 
you have lost your reason, you 
have bought death. 

All doctrines and all teachings are 
sprung from Him, from Him they 
grow: know this for certain, and 
have no fear. 

Hear from me the tidings of this great 
truth ! | 

Whose name do you sing, and on whom 
do you meditate? O, come forth 
from this entanglement! 

He dwells at the heart of ali things, so 
why take refuge in empty desola- 
tion ? 


124 SONGS OF KABIR 


If you place the Guru at a distance 
from you, then it is but the dis- 
tance that you honour: 

If indeed the Master be far away, then 
who is it else that is creating this 
world ? 

When you think that He is not here, 
then you wander further and 
further away, and seek Him in 
vain with tears. 

Where He is far off, there He is un- 
attainable: where He is near, He 
is very bliss. 

Kabir says: “Lest His servant should 
suffer pain He pervades him 
through and through.” 

Know yourself then, O Kabir ; for He 
is in you from head to foot. 

Sing with gladness, and keep your seat 
unmoved within your heart. 


SONGS OF KABIR 125 


LXXIX 


III. 66. nd main dharmi nahin 
adharmi 


AM neither pious nor ungodly, 
I live neither by law nor by sense, 

I am neither a speaker nor hearer, 

I am neither a servant nor master, 

I am neither bond nor free, 

I am neither detached nor attached. 

I am far from none: I am near to none. 

I shall go neither to hell nor to heaven. 

I do all works; yet I am apart from 
all works. 

Few comprehend my meaning: he who 
can comprehend it, he sits un- 
moved. 

Kabir seeks neither to establish nor to 
destroy. 


126 SONGS OF KABIR 


LXXX 


III. 69. satta ndm hai sab ten nyara 


HE true Name is like none other 
name ! 

The distinction of the Conditioned 

~ from the Unconditioned is but a 
word : 

The Unconditioned is the seed, the 
Conditioned is the flower and the 
fruit. 

Knowledge is the branch, and the 
Name is the root. 

Look, and see where the root is: hap- 
piness shall be yours when. you . 
come to the root. 

The root will lead you to the branch, 
the leaf, the flower, and the fruit: 

It is the encounter with the Lord, it is 
the attainment of bliss, it is the 
reconciliation of the Conditioned 
and the Unconditioned. 


SONGS OF KABIR 127 


LXXXI 
III. 74: pratham ek jo adpar ap 


N the beginning was He alone, suffi- 
cient unto Himself: the formless, 
colourless, and unconditioned 
Being. 

Then was there neither beginning, 
middle, nor end; 

Then were no eyes, no darkness, no 
light ; 

Then were no ground, air, nor sky; no 
fire, water, nor earth; no rivers 
like the Ganges and the Jumna, no 
seas, oceans, and waves. 

Then was neither vice nor virtue; scrip- 
tures there were not, as the Vedas 
and Puranas, nor as the Koran. 

Kabir ponders in his mind and says, 
“Then was there no activity: the 
Supreme Being remained merged 
in the unknown depths of His own 
self.”’ 


SSS ee 7 


128 SONGS OF KABIR 


The Guru neither eats nor drinks, 
neither lives nor dies: 

Neither has He form, line, colour, nor 
vesture. 

He who has neither caste nor clan nor 
anything else — how may I de- 
scribe His glory? 

He has neither form nor formlessness, 

He has no name, 

He has neither colour_nor_ colourless- 
ness, 

He has no dwelling-place. 


LXXXII 
Ill. 76. kahain Kabir vicar ke 
ABIR ponders and says: “He 


who has neither caste nor coun- 
try, who is formless and without 
quality, fills all space.” 
The Creator brought into being the 
Game of Joy: and from the word 
Om the Creation sprang. 


SONGS OF KABIR 129 


The earth is His joy; His joy is the 
sky ; 

His joy is the flashing of the sun and 
the moon; 

His joy is the beginning, the middle, 
and the end; 

His joy is eyes, darkness, and light. 

Oceans and waves are His joy: His 
joy the Sarasvati, the Jumna, and 
the Ganges. 

The Guru is One: and life and death, 
union and separation, are all His 
plays of joy! 

His play the land and water, the whole 
universe ! 

His play the earth and the sky! 

In play is the Creation spread out, in 
play it is established. The whole 
world, says Kabir, rests in His 
play, yet still the Player remains 
unknown. 


130 SONGS OF KABIR 


LXXXIII 


III. 84. ght zhi gantar bajar 


HE harp gives forth murmurous 
music; and the dance goes on 
without hands and feet. 

It is played without fingers, it is heard 
without ears: for He is the ear, 
and He is the listener. 

The gate is locked, but within there is 
fragrance: and there the meeting 
is seen of none. 

The wise shall understand it. © 


LXXXIV 
III. 89. mor phakirwa mdngi jay 
HE Beggar goes a-begging, but 
I could not even catch sight of 
Him: 
And what shall I beg of the Beggar? 
He gives without my asking. 


Kabir says: “I am His own: now let 
that befall which may befall !”’ 


SONGS OF KABIR 131 


LXXXV 
III. 90. nathar se jiyard phat re 


Y heart cries aloud for the house 

of my lover; the open road and 

the shelter of a roof are all one to 

her who has lost the city of her 
husband. 

My heart finds no joy in anything: my 

mind and my body are distraught. 

His palace has a million gates, but there 

is a vast ocean between it and me: 

How shall I cross it, O friend ? for end- 

less is the outstretching of the path. 


How wondrously this lyre is wrought! 
When its strings are rightly strung, 
it maddens the heart: but when 
the keys are broken and the strings 
are loosened, none regard it more. 

I tell my parents with laughter that I 
must go to my Lord in the 
morning ; 


132 SONGS OF KABIR 


They are angry, for they do not want 
me to go, and they say: “She 
thinks she has gained such do- 
minion over her husband that she 
can have whatsoever she wishes; 
and therefore she is impatient to go 
to him.” 

Dear friend, lift my veil lightly now; 
for this is the night of love. 

Kabir says: “‘Listentome! My heart 
is eager to meet my lover: I lie 
sleepless upon my bed. Remem- 
ber me early in the morning !”’ 


LXXXVI 
III. 96. jiv mahal men Siv pahunwa 


CNERVE your God, who has come 

Ss into this temple of life! 7 

Do not act the part of a madman, for 
the night is thickening fast. 

He has awaited me for countless ages, 


SONGS OF KABIR 133 


for love of me He has lost His 
heart : 

Yet I did not know the bliss that was 
so near to me, for my love was not 
yet awake. 

But now, my Lover has made known 
to me the meaning of the note that 
struck my ear: 

Now, my good fortune is come. 

Kabir says: “Behold! how great is 
my good fortune! I have received 
the unending caress of my Be- 
loved !”’ 


LX XXVII 
I. 71. gagan ghata ghaharani, sadho 


LOUDS thicken in the sky! O, 
listen to the deep voice of their 
roaring ; 
The rain comes from the east with its 
monotonous murmur. 
Take care of the fences and boundaries 


134 SONGS OF KABIR 


of your fields, lest the rains over- 
flow them ; 

Prepare the soil of deliverance, and let 
the creepers of love and renuncia- 
tion be soaked in this shower. 

It is the prudent farmer who will bring 
his harvest home; he shall fill 
both his vessels, and feed both 
the wise men and the saints. 


LXXXVIII 

III. 118. a din ke main jaun balthari 

HIS day is dear to me above all 
other days, for to-day the Be- 
loved Lord is a guest in my house ; 

My chamber and my courtyard are 
beautiful with His presence. 

My longings sing His Name, and they 
are become lost in His great 
beauty : 

I wash His feet, and I look upon His 

- Face; and I lay before Him as an 


SONGS OF KABIR 135 


offering my body, my mind, and 
all that I have. 

What a day of gladness is that day in 
which my Beloved, who is my 
treasure, comes to my house! 

All evils fly from my heart when I see 
my Lord. 

*“My love has touched Him; my heart. 
is longing for the Name which is 
Truth.” 

Thus sings Kabir, the servant of all 
servants. 


LXXXIX 

I. 100. kot sunta hai jndni rdg gagan 

men 
S there any wise man who will listen 
to that solemn music which arises 

in the sky ? 

For He, the Source of all music, makes 
all vessels full fraught, and rests in 

fullness Himself. 


136 SONGS OF KABIR 


| He who is in the body is ever athirst, 

| for he pursues that which is in part : 

But ever there wells forth deeper and 
deeper the sound “He is this — 
this is He’’; fusing love and re- 
nunciation into one. 

Kabir says: ‘“‘O brother! that is the 
Primal Word.” 


XC 
I. 108. main ka se bijhaun 


O whom shall I go to learn about 
my Beloved ? 

Kabir says: “‘As you never may find 

the forest if you ignore the tree, so 

He may never be found in abstrac- 

tions.” | 


XCI 
III. 12. samskirit bhashd padhi linha 
i HAVE learned the Sanskrit lan- 


guage, so let all men call me wise: 
But where is the use of this, when I 


SONGS OF KABIR 137 


am floating adrift, and parched 
with thirst, and burning with the 
heat of desire? 

To no purpose do you bear on your 
| head this load of pride and vanity. 
Kabir says: “Lay it down in the dust, 
and go forth to meet the Beloved. 
Address Him as your Lord.”’ 


XCII 
Ill. 110. carkha calai surat virahin ka 


HE woman who is parted from her 
lover spins at the spinning wheel. 

The city of the body arises in its 

beauty; and within it the palace 
of the mind has been built. 

The wheel of love revolves in the sky, 
and the seat is made of the jewels 
of knowledge: 

What subtle threads the woman weaves, 
and makes them fine with love 
and reverence! 


138 SONGS OF KABIR 


Kabir says: “I am weaving the gar- 
land of day and night. When - 
my Lover comes and touches me 
with His feet, I shall offer Him my 
tears.” 


XCIIT 
III. 111. kotin bhanu candra taragan 


ENEATH the great umbrella of 
my King millions of suns and 
moons and stars are shining ! 

He is the Mind within my mind: He 
is the Eye within mine eye. 

Ah, could my mind and eyes be one! 
Could my love but reach to my 
Lover! Could but the fiery heat 
of my heart be cooled ! 

Kabir says: “‘When you unite love 
with the Lover, then you have 
love’s perfection.” 


SONGS OF KABIR 139 


ee NCINY 
I. 92. avadhi begam des hamara 
SADHU! my land is a sorrow- 


less land. 

I cry aloud to all, to the king and 
the beggar, the emperor and the 
fakir — 

Whosoever seeks for shelter in the 
Highest, let all come and settle 
in my land! 

Let the weary come and lay his burdens 
here ! 


So live here, my brother, that you may 
cross with ease to that other shore. 

- It is a land without earth or sky, with- 
out moon or stars; 

For only the radiance of Truth shines 
in my Lord’s Durbar. 

Kabir says: “O beloved brother! 
naught is essential save Truth.”’ 


140 SONGS OF KABIR 


XCV 
I. 109. sdin ke sangat sdsur ai 


CAME with my Lord to my Lord’s 
home: but I lived not with Him 
and I tasted Him not, and my 
youth passed away like a dream. 

On my wedding night my women- 
friends sang in chorus, and I was 
anointed with the unguents of 
pleasure and pain: 

But when the ceremony was over, I 
left my Lord and came away, and. 
my kinsman tried to console me 
upon the road. 

Kabir says, “I shall go to my Lord’s 
house with my love at my side; 
then shall I sound the trumpet of 
triumph !”’ 


SONGS OF KABIR 141 


XCVI 
I. 75. samajh dekh man mit piyarwa 


FRIEND, dear heart of mine, 
think well! if you love indeed, 
then why do you sleep ? 

If you have found Him, then give 
yourself utterly, and take Him to 
you. 

Why do you loose Him again and 
again ? 

If the deep sleep of rest has come to 
your eyes, why waste your time 
making the bed and arranging 
the pillows? 

Kabir says: “I tell you the ways of 
love! Even though the head itself 
must be given, why should you 
weep over it?” 


1442 SONGS OF KABIR 


XCVII 
II. 90. sahab ham men, sdhab tum men 


HE Lord is in me, the Lord is in 
you, as life is in every seed. O 

servant! put false pride away, and 
seek for Him within you. 

A million suns are ablaze with light, 

- The sea of blue spreads in the sky, 

The fever of life is stilled, and all stains 
are washed away; when I sit in 
the midst of that world. 


Hark to the unstruck bells and drums! 
Take your delight in love! 

Rains pour down without water, and 
the rivers are streams of light. 
One Love it is that pervades the whole 
world, few there are who know it 

fully : 

They are blind who hope to see it by 
the light of reason, that reason 
which is the cause of separation — 

The House of Reason is very far away ! 


SONGS OF KABIR 143 


How blessed is Kabir, that amidst this 
great joy he sings within his own 
vessel. 

It is the music of the meeting of soul 
with soul ; 

It is the music of the forgetting of 
SOTTOWS ; 

It is the music that transcends all com- 
ing in and all going forth. 


XCVIII 
II. 98. mtu phagun niyarani 
HE month of March draws near: ah, 
who will unite me to my Lover? 

How shall I find words for the beauty 
of my Beloved? For He is merged 
in all beauty. 

His colour is in all the pictures of the 
world, and it bewitches the body 
and the mind. 

Those who know this, know what is 
this unutterable play of the Spring. 


144 SONGS OF KABIR 


Kabir says: “Listen to me, brother! 
there are not many who have 
found this out.” 


XCIX 
II. 111. Ndrad, pyar so antar nahi 


H Narad! I know that my Lover 
cannot be far: 

When my Lover wakes, I wake; when 
He sleeps, I sleep. 

He is destroyed at the root who gives 
pain to my Beloved. 

Where they sing His praise, there I 
live; 

When He moves, I walk before Him: 
my heart yearns for my Beloved. 

The infinite pilgrimage lies at His 
feet, a million devotees are seated 
there. 

Kabir says: “The Lover Himself re- 
veals the glory of true love.” 


SONGS OF KABIR 145 


C 
II. 122. kot prem ki peng jhuldo re 


ANG up the swing of love to-day ! 

Hang the body and the mind 
between the arms of the Beloved, 
in the ecstasy of love’s joy: 

Bring the tearful streams of the rainy 
clouds to your eyes, and cover 
your heart with the shadow of 
darkness : 

Bring your face nearer to His ear, and 
speak of the deepest longings of 
your heart. 

Kabir says: “‘Listen to me, brother! 
bring the vision of the Beloved in 
your heart.” 


Printed in the United States of America, 








Tit i} a+) my 
j anit ae 


Vy 


| mh Nd 
M 
id 








ONY lil ey >, 


aN 301 





